


What You (K)nead

by Nemainofthewater



Category: The Magicians (TV)
Genre: Don't copy to another site, F/F, F/M, Family, Fluff, Food, Gen, Josh Hoberman is a Good Friend, Josh is jewish, Judaism, also a sweetheart
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-05
Updated: 2019-04-05
Packaged: 2020-01-05 02:06:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,494
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18356387
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nemainofthewater/pseuds/Nemainofthewater
Summary: "One of Josh’s earliest memories is baking challah for the Shabbat with his Bubbe. She would let him knead the dough until it was smooth, and then they would plait the strands together, her gnarled hands patiently guiding him through the motions. The smell of bread baking and the kind patience in her smile: those are the things he remembers most about home. Those are the things he clings to."Five times Josh bakes for his friends. And one time they bake for him.





	What You (K)nead

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not sure all of the scenes make total sense in terms of who was in Fillory at what time but... bear with?

One of Josh’s earliest memories is baking challah for the Shabbat with his Bubbe. She would let him knead the dough until it was smooth, and then they would plait the strands together, her gnarled hands patiently guiding him through the motions. The smell of bread baking and the kind patience in her smile: those are the things he remembers most about home. Those are the things he clings to.

 

After his family die (what? There’s a reason he became a magician and not a chef) it’s those memories that he clings to as he’s shuffled from foster home to foster home. In the end, he doesn’t keep his faith or his family or his memories (he was only five when they died). What he does keep though, what helps him through years of slow shattering is the knowledge that most things can be solved with the power of baking.

 

1.

 

“Quentin!” Josh calls out.

 

Quentin looks up and geez. It’s evident that he hasn’t been sleeping, or at least hasn’t been sleeping well because the bags under his eyes look as if they’re going to gain sentience any day now.

 

“Josh,” Quentin says, “I don’t really have time for-”

 

“Anything that doesn’t involve saving Eliot. Yeah, I know,” Josh replies, “But I figure you’re not going to do him much good if you die from starvation. Here.”

 

He pushes a Tupperware into Quentin’s hands.

 

“What is this?” Quentin asks.

 

“Cereal bars. Homemade, evidently. Loaded with sugar, nuts, chocolate… enough carbs and fats to keep you going, and small enough to slip into your pocket.”

 

“Josh, I-“

 

“No need to thank me!” Josh says loudly, “Just make sure you eat them. We don’t need you fainting or something because the Monster forget that human bodies need food.”

 

2.

 

Pete’s sitting at the table, head in his hands.

 

“Hey,” says Josh, “Are you ok man?”

 

Pete looks up and-

 

“Never mind,” Josh says, “Stupid question.”

 

He makes an abrupt turn and makes his way to the kitchen. He’s sure that he has some brownie ingredients stashed somewhere.

  
3.

 

“Hey Fen,” Josh says.

 

She’s staring down at a stack full of papers, hands fiddling with a small knife that she always carries (where Josh has no idea).

 

“Oh,” she says looking up, “Hi Josh. I was just…looking over these trade agreements.”

 

“That sounds interesting,” he says. (It doesn’t).

 

“Yes. I mean no. I mean.”

 

She sniffs.

 

“Hey, hey!”

 

Josh strides over to her and embraces her tightly.

 

“Are you ok?” he says.

 

“No, I am. I just… I miss Margo and Eliot. And I don’t know if I can do this. Be High King.”

 

“I miss Margo too,” he says, voice low, “But I also know that you’re an amazing High King. Margo wouldn’t have left Fillory in your hands if she didn’t think so too.”

 

He hugs her close again.

 

“Now, I can’t help you with all this paperwork. But what I can do is make sure you have enough energy for it.”

 

He stands up and points at her.

 

“I’m going to make you the famous Hoberman hot chocolate, with whipped cream and jus the tiniest hint of brandy. And I’ve got some of those little chocolate fondants you like. Fen, one of my philosophies in life is that when you feel down, chocolate always helps. Buckle up because tonight we are going to eat ourselves into a diabetic coma.”

 

(And if at the next day’s council meeting there are chocolate stains on the documents… No one dares to say anything.)

 

4.

 

Josh sets the plate of snickerdoodles down on the counter with a THUNK.

 

“I heard that you like sweet things,” he says.

 

Alice tries to smile up at him, but it comes out as more of a grimace.

 

“Did Quentin tell you that?” she asks.

 

“There might have been a few horror stories about how much sugar you put in your coffee,” he jokes, then immediately regrets it when her face falls.

 

He sighs.

 

“Look,” he says, “It sucks. Life in general. Humans are messy, irrational meat sacks with very little going for them. But! We have one thing. And this is a big one. We have cookies.”

 

He pushes the plate closer to her.

 

“Thank you,” she says, still not looking at him, “But I’m not hungry.”

 

Josh gapes at her theatrically.

 

“Alice!” he says, “Hunger isn’t the point here. The point is we eat all these cookies while watching Queer Eye and bitching about our feelings. Ok?”

 

“Look, I appreciate it but I don’t think-”

 

“Well I do,” Josh says firmly, “You need this Alice. You need time to relax and do normal twenty-something-year-old activities like talking shit about your friends and taking advantage of your youthful metabolism. And I’m not taking no for an answer.”

 

Alice does look up then. Josh tries to look resolved, as if nothing will move him.

 

Alice’s lips twitch. And she reaches out and takes a cookie.  
5.

 

Eliot isn’t eating. Eliot isn’t eating and Margo is worried.

 

So, if Josh just so happens to keep leaving baked goods around Eliot whenever he’s passed out… Well. Life is full of coincidences, huh?

 

(The first time he sees Eliot take one of his muffins and bite into it… God he’s so relieved. Even though Eliot doesn’t (can’t?) finish it, it’s a start. It’s a start.)

 

+1

 

Josh wakes up slowly, stretching out and luxuriating in the fact that it was a Sunday, and that he has nothing to do: no kingdoms to help run, no research, no library infiltration.

 

“Morning lover boy,” Margo says beside him, and Josh laughs.

 

“Isn’t it a bit early-” he starts to say, opening his eyes, and then freezes. Because he isn’t alone in the room.

 

“What the fuck guys?” he squeaks, surreptitiously trying to rearrange the covers to hide more of his chest.

 

Margo rolls her eyes. She slaps at his hands: “Stop that. It’s not like they haven’t seen it before.”

 

“Yes, Josh,” Eliot says, “I doubt you have anything that impressive down there.”

 

Despite the fact he still can’t stand for long periods of time (and is therefore leaning against the wall, utterly nonchalant as if he were doing it for the aesthetic and not because he’d fall over otherwise) Eliot is freakin’ intimidating. Especially since Josh really wants to make a good impression on him.

 

(He suspects Eliot knows that and is taking full advantage of the fact. Hell, he knows that Margo knows about his crippling need to get into Eliot’s good graces and is laughing at him for it.)

 

“Be nice, El,” Margo drawls.

 

Eliot sighs dramatically, “Fine Bambi, but only for you.”

 

“Look, can we just get this over with?” Penny asks impatiently, “Some of us have other things we’d like to be doing with our time.”

 

“That’s your cue to get dressed,” Margo says, throwing a wad of clothes at him.

 

“I-am so confused,” Josh says.

 

“Just get dressed,” Margo says.

 

No one moves.

 

“Er, a little privacy please guys?” Josh says.

 

There is much eyerolling (and a bit of jeering from Penny) but the room clears.

 

“I didn’t know I was going to be ambushed when I woke up this morning,” Josh says, looking up at Margo. She smiles down at him and gives kisses his head.

 

“Trust me Hoberman,” she says, “If I’d really wanted to ambush you, you’d know it. Now less talking, more dressing.”

 

Josh obeys. Only partly because his girlfriend (??) is a scary, scary woman.

 

When he leaves their bedroom-

 

He stops. Because the blinds have been pulled down, shielding the interior from the weak winter sun. Candles are on every surface casting a warm, flickering light, but that isn’t the thing that amazes him. No it’s the table in the centre of the room. The table that definitely wasn’t there yesterday, that is groaning under the weight of dozens of covered dishes. And in the middle of the table, in the place of honour… A large loaf of Challah. Slightly too cooked on the outside and listing to the side where it evidentially hadn’t been proved long enough, and so obviously homemade that Josh can feel his eyes welling up.

 

“Guys,” he chokes out.

 

Because they’re all there. Penny and Eliot of course. But also Quentin, sat next to Eliot (and unobtrusively holding his hand), and Julia at the end of the table, and Fen (a huge smile on her face, giving him a sunny wave), and Alice going over a sheaf of notes and Kady, lighting even more candles in the middle of the table.

 

“Hey Josh,” Julia says. She’s smiling, and the candlelight has transformed her into something otherworldly.

 

“What…what is this?”

 

Margo shrugs when he looks at her.

 

“Well you’re always cooking stuff for us. Figured that we could return the favour.”

 

She smiles at him, and it’s the soft loving smile that she reserves for when they’re alone.

 

“Happy Hanukkah.”

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not Jewish and am a little nervous about misrepresenting things here, or making mistakes so please let me know if I've written anything offensive or plain wrong!
> 
> Thank you for reading!  
> I am on Tumblr as [Nemainofthewater ](https://nemainofthewater.tumblr.com)


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